SPIRIT OF NEW ORLEANS :: The Genius of Dave Bartholomew |TWILIGHT ZONE

 DAVE BARTHOLOMEW

Gyro1966 has posted this New Orleans gem over at 

THE TWILIGHT ZONE - Dave Bartholomew

Released as part of EMI's Legends of Rock N Roll series in 1992, there has been no better retrospective of Dave Bartholomew's music than the double-disc set The Spirit of New Orleans: The Genius of Dave Bartholomew...

It's partially because at 50 tracks, it's the most comprehensive collection ever assembled on Bartholomew, but its real genius is that it doesn't shine a spotlight solely on his solo recordings. Instead, those are interspersed among the numerous hits he wrote and produced for such New Orleans legends as Fats Domino, Smiley Lewis, Earl King, Bobby Mitchell, Snooks Eaglin, Shirley & Lee, Pee Wee Crayton, Tommy Ridgley, Chris Kenner, and many others (including sides by T-Bone Walker). There are plenty of classics here -- "Stack a Lee," "Ain't It a Shame," "Bo Weevil," "I Hear You Knocking," "I'm Gonna Be a Wheel Someday," "One Night," "Come On, Pts. 1 & 2," "Walking to New Orleans," and "Trick Bag" among them -- plus numerous singles and songs known only to collectors. There has since been a dynamite single-disc collection of Bartholomew recordings issued, but any serious collector of New Orleans music needs to have this, pure and simple. - Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

trax:
1 Ain't Gonna Do It - Dave Bartholomew 2 Don't Marry Too Soon - Jewel King 3 Shrewsbury Blues - Tommy Ridgley 4 Stack-A-Lee, Pts. 1 & 2 - Archibald 5 The Blues Jumped Over The Rabbit - Joe Turner 6 Blow Your Top - Rodney Harris & Dave Bartholomew 7 3 X 7 = 21 - Jewel King 8 Little Girl Sing Ding-A-Ling - Dave Bartholomew 9 I'm Gone - Shirley & Lee 10 Pony Tail - T-Bone Walker 11 Blue Monday - Smiley Lewis 12 I Got Booted - Little Sonny Jones 13 I-Yi - The Hawks 14 Ain't That A Shame - Fats Domino 15 Thinking About My Baby - Little Booker 16 Every Dog Has A Day - Pee Wee Crayton 17 You Ain't So Such A Much - Blanche Thomas 18 Why Fool Yourself - Bernie Williams 19 Single Life - Billy Tate 20 The Real Thing - Shirley & Lee 21 Drops Of Rain - Al Reed 22 Mighty Long Road - Joan Scott 23 Teen Age Baby - T-Bone Walker 24 Bo Weevil - Fats Domino 25 Runnin' Wild - Pee Wee Crayton

Vol II

Dave Bartholomew - Spirit of New Orleans Vol II - Twilight Zone

1 Jump Children - Dave Bartholomew 2 Can't See For Lookin' - The Hawks feat. Dave Bartholomew 3 Doin' The Hambone - Little Booker 4 Toy Bell - The Bees 5 I Hear You Knocking - Smiley Lewis 6 Witchcraft - The Spiders 7 Nothing Sweet As You - Bobby Mitchell & The Toppers Valley Of Tears - Fats Domino 9 Hoo Doo - Al Reed 10 Morning Star - James "Sugar Boy" Crawford 11 Let The Four Winds Blow - Roy Brown 12 Sick And Tired - Chris Kenner 13 Good News - Dave Bartholomew 14 I'm Gonna Be A Wheel Someday - Bobby Mitchell 15 One Night - Smiley Lewis 16 Young School Girl - Fats Domino 17 She's Got A Wobble (When She Walks) - James "Sugar Boy" Crawford 18 I Walk In My Sleep - Berna Dean 19 Come On, Pts. 1 & 2 - Earl King 20 I Wanna Know - Al Robinson 21 That Certain Door - Ford "Little Snook" Eaglin 22 Walking To New Orleans (Undubbed Version) - Fats Domino 23 Little Willie - Berna Dean 24 Trick Bag - Earl King 25 They Said It Couldn't Be Done - Al Robinson

I think I came across Dave Bartholomew through my passion for Dr John and his resolute support of the music of his home town. He made my obsession with N'awleans piano players from the maestro the Fess, Professor Longhair, to Archibald, Tuts Washington and even of course Fats Domino with whom Bartholomew was particularly associated as Domino was his protege and other singers and more like the Goddess Irma Thomas, Earl King, Shirley & Lee, T Bone Walker, Huey P Smith, to Allen Toussaint and bands like The Wild Tchoupitoulas, The Neville Brothers, The Meters and more. I bought all I could find in specialist record shops from vintage Ace labels and so on and Dave Bartholomew loomed large as a songwriter without equal. 

I love this not song . . . . . . . . .a perennial favourite . . "I saw her kissing Willie across the fence . . . . . "

TRICK BAG - Dave Bartholomew - an EARL KING hit with music by Bartholomew